Success Fundamentals

In this 7th and final episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, our hosts Kris Sykes and Brian Goldsack revisit their favorite interviews, guests, and takeaways. After more than 70 conversations, our hosts look at how their own definitions of success have changed, and why it’s not just about the money anymore. Kris and Brian also talk about their exciting new show, giving us a taste of what’s to come.  

HIGHLIGHTS

• Kris and Brian's favorite guests and key takeaways
• Looking back to the first few episodes 
• How we define success, 78 episodes later
• Introducing: The 8 Questions Show 

QUOTES

Kris: "In anything that you do, I think you have to look at what the intention is. If it's behind the wrong intent, you're never gonna be satisfied. You can have the car or the house or the clothing or whatever you want to have but if it's for you, then it's satisfying to you. If you're doing it to show off or to one up the next person, that's a stressful way to live." 

Kris: "Everybody's perception of what success is has to do with money. And money is a means of exchange. So as long as you're exchanging things, in America at least, it's gonna be of importance but it can't be the end-all, be-all." 

Brian: "If you can somehow find a way to sustain your lifestyle doing something that you love, I think that is the true definition of success." 

Brian: "We're going to ask each guest eight questions with the goal of you guys having an intimate, high level of understanding of each of these subject matters by the conclusion of each series. Each series is going to be a month long and by the end of it, you're gonna be able to go to thanksgiving dinner and speak at length about 12 new subjects every single year."

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

Intellectual property can be one of, if not the most valuable asset for many businesses. Therefore, it makes sense that as an entrepreneur, you should be on top of protecting your intellectual property via the proper filing of applicable trademarks, patents, and copyright. In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Kris and Brian talk to patent law, intellectual property and business law expert Mark Goodman about the many ways to ensure that your IP is being protected to the fullest extent. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• What it really means to own intellectual property
• The difference between a patent, copyright and a trademark
• Why you should protect your business in the first place 
• Can you put a lean on intellectual property? 
• Protecting your intellectual property in every country
• Can you sell intellectual property?

QUOTES

Mark: "A logo can be the subject of a copyright and a trademark. But the trademark is protecting against people using it in a way that causes consumer confusion whereas copyright is just saying you can't make a copy of this artwork." 

Mark: "If you have an invention and you're going for a new business based on the invention, the law makes you file early in the process -- which can trip up some entrepreneurs because otherwise it might make more sense instead of spending a bunch of money on a patent lawyer at the beginning, let's get out there and see if we sell this product, see if it really works and then go ahead later and get the patent." 

Mark: "The problem is once you start selling, in the United States you have exactly one year to file a patent application or else you forever lose your right to do so. It becomes public domain. That is harsh for entrepreneurs." 

Follow Jonathan and check out his work through the links below: 

• Website: https://www.goodmanlawnevada.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markgoodmanlaw/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodmanLawNV
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodmanlawnevada/

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Kris and Brian talk to Award-winning Author, Podcast Producer & Keynote Speaker Jonathan Fields. Their conversation centers around Jonathan’s groundbreaking work that attempts to demystify the different impulses that motivate us to be productive individuals. Jonathan also talks about the state of work today, and how technology has allowed us to redefine our relationship with work. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The search for the 10 'Sparketypes'
• The 5 components of work that sparks you
• How to show up consistently everyday
• Lessons learned while training to be a luthier 
• Not everything that sparks you should earn you a living
• We all need to do some self discovery
• How the digital medium is changing the nature of work

QUOTES

Jonathan: "One of the really big surprises when we started into this work, I kinda figured there's close to eight billion people on the planet. Well, there must be eight billion unique impulses, because we're all different, we're all individual, we're all special. And it would be nearly impossible to identify eight billion of these different things. What I was surprised by was  how quickly distilled to these 10 universal impulses that just show up in different patterns." 

Jonathan: "When I talk about doing work that sparks you or that makes you come alive, I'm talking about work that gives you a feeling of purpose, gives you a feeling that you have access to that magical time feud state of flow, where the world seems to vanish away and you become utterly absorbed in the thing that you're doing almost losing the ability to distinguish between you and the activity."

Jonathan: "The more that you can line up the work that you're doing with these impulses that are inside of you, the more all of those questions drop away. The more the question becomes actually, how can I make sure that I'm not doing this obsessively and nonstop because I love doing this so much and it's giving me so much back." 

Jonathan: "I don't believe that just because something sparks you, means that it necessarily should be the thing that also gives you your living." 

Follow Jonathan and check out his work through the links below: 

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanfields1/
• Podcast - https://pod.link/1610198312
• Website - https://www.jonathanfields.com/

Get a copy of SPARKED: Discover Your Unique Imprint For Work That Makes You Come Alive by Jonathan Fields

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Brian talks to the host of The Mindset and Self-Mastery Show, Nick McGowan. Nick talks about masculinity and whether or not gender has a role in success. 

Nick claims that there are no true masculine or feminine traits that lead to success, only principles that one should live by which we often learn from role models such as our parents, who just happen to be the closest to us. However, as our societies grow, these typical role models archetypes are already changing, signaling the need for us to expand our understanding and unlearn our old beliefs. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• What does it mean to be masculine? 
• Masculine and feminine traits may not exist 
• Principles are agnostic to sex
• We learn from people who are around
• Some things we learned since birth need to be undone

QUOTES

Nick: "At the core of a man, I think, there's really that honor, that courage, and that leadership that comes from within. That ties in to other pieces too. It's kinda like one of those big brain maps where you start with one bubble and opens up 15 others." 

Nick: "We as people, as humans want to find boxes and sit our ass in that box because we want to be part of something. So it can be easier to just jump at the masculine side and say well I'm just gonna take this and run with it." 

Nick: "I think there's a lot of men that run things, and it's great to see that women are starting to run things. And I'm not pro men, pro women, or against one of the other at all, I'm pro us figuring our stuff out."

Follow Nick and through the links below: 

• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089
• Website: https://nickmcgowan.com/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenickmcgowan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNickMcGowan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenickmcgowan/

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Brian talks to campaign consultant Anthony Miragliotta about the role that governments have in the success of their people. As a believer of small government, Anthony believes that the role of governments in your individual pursuit of liberty and happiness should be minimal. 

As Ronald Reagan once said, “When the government expands, liberty contracts." However, whichever side of the political spectrum you lean towards, the main thing is to be more actively involved in matters of government, because it’s the government’s job to represent you and your interests. If you’re unhappy with the way the government is doing its job, the citizenry needs to have its will known. The power is in your hands. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The government shouldn't tell you how to live your life 
• A properly functioning government is a limited one
• Lessons in governance learned during the height of COVID-19 
• Citizens need to be more involved in their governments
• Politics is a game of give and take 

QUOTES

Anthony: "Government is known for spending money on wasteful matters. Right now, we're 30 trillion dollars in debt. And who's gonna pay it off? If I'm ever gonna have grandkids they're gonna be paying it off."

Anthony: "One thing the COVID-19 pandemic really taught a lot of people is the bigger the government, then the less freedoms your people have. I go back to Ronald Reagan, another quote he said that I like, is 'When government expands, liberty contracts.'"

Anthony: "One of the biggest things to do if you're really unhappy with the current political climate in your local town, your county, your state, or even America, the easiest way is to just get involved. I don't care what political party you belong to, but if you really believe in certain causes but you really think that the people who are in-charge of that are not doing effective jobs, get involved." 

Follow Anthony and through the links below: 

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-miragliotta-aa9167161/
• Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/0F0d6jYcgm7vVuy7EyCDmb
• Website (Priscilla Mangini Enterprise): https://linktr.ee/priscillamanginienterprise

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Kris and Brian talk to Senior Vice-President and Head of Global Communications and Public Affairs for Starbucks, Aranthan “AJ” Jones II. AJ shares good advice for people wanting to climb the corporate ladder and achieve success by working with some of the biggest companies in the world. 

Besides all the technical requirements that every would-be c-suite executive needs to have, AJ also reveals that it’s about how you communicate your value and your relationship with time. Whether or not being at the helm of one of the world’s biggest companies is your idea of success, AJ’s advice is bound to help you achieve your goals, one way or another. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Starbucks brand is beyond coffee 
• Follow the impact you want to make, not the fancy job title 
• The elevator route vs the scaffolding route 
• You won't get a c-suite position via job searches
• The relative nature of time can be for or against you
• Social media has eroded long-term thinking

QUOTES

AJ: "I start by saying, ask yourself the question, not what job you wanna have, but what impact you want to make. Because it's a lot easier to align your ambitions, your skill sets, your knowledge, and quite frankly your energies around the impact you believe you can make versus what job you can have." 

AJ: “The best communication you can have about your ambitions is somebody else communicating about your ambitions.” 

AJ: "Most positions you will get at this executive level won't be through applying to Indeed.com. It won't be there. It'll be through a search process or it'll be through a connection or a related relationship to that particular opportunity. Those are not gonna come directly to you, they are often gonna come by way of someone else to you." 

AJ: "If I go from farmer to retail, retail to entertainment, entertainment to oil and gas, I am searching you my ability to take the same skill set, repackage it and repurpose and restructure it to be able to deliver on behalf of any industry. That is way more valuable than being able to say, you know what, I've been in this industry for 35 years."

Follow AJ  and through the links below: 

• Email: aranthan@yahoo.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajjonesii/

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

Success is very hard to define because it means different things to people. However, what’s universally true is that the feeling of success should come from within yourself, and not from outside. In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon talks about how achieving a true interconnectedness with something outside of yourself or your tribe will help you find happiness that is far beyond mere pleasure or material delight. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• You need to define success for yourself 
• Find that one thing that really connects you to your conscience 
• Going outside your tribalism will help you grow 
• We're gradually recognizing our interconnectedness 
• Doing something right doesn't always have to feel good 
• Success is inside-out, not outside-in

QUOTES

Tami: "Just imagine you're lying in bed and you're dying. It's not that hard to imagine. You look back at your life, what would it mean, in your own heart, for you to have been wildly successful? What would it mean to you from that perspective, knowing you're saying goodbye to it all?" 

Tami: "We have to first allow ourselves to be explorers. Try a lot of different things. And when something feels like, 'oh my, this feels really good! I love this, it feels natural to me. It tastes right,' then we have to follow it. Give ourselves permission." 

Tami: "I think that the ecological climate change crisis we're in is driving us. We're seeing how what happens in this part of the world affects another part of the world. We're seeing that if we want to survive as a human species, we all have to work together to accomplish that and what a huge thing that will be."

Tami: "It's not just feeling right in terms of joy, joy, joy, pleasure, pleasure pleasure, tiramisu, tiramisu, tiramisu. It's not just like that. It's... this feels like a fit and it feels so right that I'm even willing to sacrifice for it. I'm willing to do hard stuff for it. It's so valuable, it feels like such a fit for who I am, I'll do what it takes." 

Tami: " At least in my experience, success is an inside-out phenomenon versus an outside, you know, let me just accomplish all these things. When you feel inside rich and abundant, and you have all of these capacities to listen to other people, to be in the unknown and think creatively, to bring out the best in other people on the team and have exceptional teamwork. Before you know it, your business life is growing and changing. You're becoming more and more successful."

Follow Tami and her work through the links below: 

• Learn how to lead from within: https://innermba.soundstrue.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tami-simon-1061224/

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

A lot of people dream about retirement and living in a perpetual state of leisure or pursuing a vision of their life that they’ve always wanted. Some people even go so far as to live a “deferred lifestyle” and save up to 70% of their income for a few years to retire as early as possible. However, when they get to that stage they discover that retirement isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. 

After a successful software engineering career, TheirStory Chief Technology Officer Dennis Mnuskin had the option to go on sabbatical and not work for the first time since coming out of high school. However, he quickly went back to work after coming across an interesting opportunity, and he hasn’t looked back since.

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Dennis talks about his ideas of success, and how he came to the realization that he was already living his lifelong dream all along.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Dennis' journey so far
• Why the FIRE movement doesn't make sense 
• Structure your life around living your lifelong dream 
• Success does not always mean getting to the top
• Defining your dream is crucial but can be difficult 

QUOTES

Dennis: "For us, the grass is always greener on the other side. Like every single time you go on vacation, and you're working down the street of London, and you're like man, I wish I lived here. Or you go to Scotland and it's like oh wow, can you imagine if we had a house on this hillside how awesome would that be? And there's a guy living on that house, on that hillside, thinking man, I wish I lived in New York City."

Dennis: "We all love vacation and we idealize it because it's something different, but when vacation becomes our fulltime existence, it's no longer vacation. It's no longer fun."

Dennis: "Our work is what actually enables us to make a meaningful difference in the world. Going on vacations and jumping from one sailboat to the next sailboat, it sounds like fun but I can't imagine I would be doing that for more than a month or two."

Dennis: "If I align my life and what I'm doing with what I actually value, then I'm happy, I'm successful, I'm content. But I don't want to be sailing around the world. I do not want to own a cattle farm, I do not want to be a farmer. And so the question becomes, what am I gonna do?”

Follow Dennis and his work through the links below: 

• Website: https://dennis.mnuskin.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dxm/

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

Whether it be in business or in your personal life, it’s always about the relationships. However, not all relationships are built equal, and certainly not all are meant to last. In this episode of Success Fundamentals, Kris Sykes and Brian Goldstein talk to coach, speaker, entrepreneur, and founder of Ellingson Enterprises, Fletcher Ellingson. 

Fletcher takes us down to brass tacks on when and how you should sever ties with somebody, and even defines specific elements to consider, such as our own standards and values. Ultimately, Fletcher argues that severing ties should not be done from a place of victimhood. Rather, it should be done from a place of empowerment, where we take 100% responsibility for the decisions we make. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Are you playing the victim role?
• Most people are always doing their best with the tools they have 
• Try to give people the benefit of the doubt 
• Always take 100% of the responsibility for your life 
• Do not lower your standards to accommodate a relationship
• Standards vs values 
• We don't always live according to our values 
• Tolerance can lead to discomfort as well
• How to cleanly sever ties 

QUOTES

Fletcher: "I want to make sure that we're operating from a place of empowerment, not disempowerment. If we're playing the fair-unfair game in any way, you can guarantee the deck is stacked against the other person. That's why I want to say, just check yourself." 

Fletcher: "A value is simply an indicator of preference. I value honesty. I value financial freedom. I value health and fitness. But how many of us have a standard that actually backs it up?" 

Fletcher: "If I had to let somebody go or sever a relationship business or otherwise, I will forever use this now: 'This isn't working for me, and I have not been able to make it work. So this is the end of our working relationship.' Ultimately, if I'm their employer, I wasn't able to bring something to the table to elicit the level of performance that I desired." 

Follow Fletcher and his work through the links below: 

Website: https://fletcherellingson.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fletcher-ellingson-4067072/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gocoachfletch

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

Everybody wants to eat, but few will hunt. Everybody wants the best results, but few will ever have the tenacity to put the work in. But that’s the beauty of it, you just have to outwork everybody else. In this episode of the Success Fundamentals Podcast, Kris Sykes talks to fitness coach and owner of Believe Elite Athletic Training, John Rahn.

As a former federal agent working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, John was already set for life in his career. However, his true passion lay elsewhere, and he eventually founded his own fitness gym. Today, he coaches some of the top MMA fighters, including Shane Burgos. Besides physical training, John also works with athletes on their nutrition and mental fitness to give them holistic training that sets them up for success in their respective fields. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The road less traveled is the entrepreneur way
• A chance meeting that started the coaching business
• Brush with cancer and switching careers 
• Everybody wants to eat but few will hunt
• Nutrition is as important as training 
• Go hard then go harder a little more
• Don't let yourself fall towards comfort
• Entering the MMA world and coaching Shane Burgos 
• Evolving through the pandemic and writing a book

QUOTES

John: "Go all in, and stay consistent with your effort everyday. Have faith and just be willing to outwork everybody. Put the work in." 

John: "You can't take J.J. Watts' workout and try to go do it on the field. The guy literally flips a thousand pounds higher, 60 times. He's a freak of nature. But you know what you can try to do, you can try and emulate his nutrition. Start with his mental performance, then build your body." 

Kris: "People who normally lose or don't have longevity, defaults to comfort. The moment it gets too hard, whether you're running, whether you're lifting, whether you're starting a business, the moment it gets too hard, okay, let me just go back to the business or maybe it's just not meant to be."

John: "Anybody can be an athlete and transform their body and mindset. ANd I think that's what my gym is seeing and shown. Believe Elite is adult and youth athlete, pro athlete and college athlete, the doors are open to anybody who wants to better themselves and better their life and health and fitness."

John: "You could talk through nutrition, you could talk through mindset and mentality. You can't talk through a training session." 

Follow John and his work through the links below: 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-rahn-758b2b178/

Website - https://believeyouareelite.com/

Book - https://believeyouareelite.com/mindset/

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals Podcast, Kris Sykes and Brian Goldsack unpack the popular saying “People’s opinions do not matter.” Brian and Kris inspect the issue from several angles, but give a focus on the viewpoint of success. The pair also talks about the need to inspect popular sayings and determine whether they warrant further inspection. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• People's opinions do matter in specific contexts
• The truth matters more than people's opinions
• The case of Colin Kaepernick
• Be wary of popular sayings and inspect the context
• You have the right to clarify their opinion of you
• Look for honest people who give honest feedback

QUOTES

Brian: "I think that the truth matters, regardless of people's opinions. There was a time in the United States where the general opinion of people is that slavery was okay. But the truth of the matter is that slavery is not okay. And you might actually had been in the minority in the south if you were one of these people walking around saying, ‘I don't think this is right.’" 

Kris: "Go to people who will give you an honest opinion because most strangers will not. They're not gonna say, oh this is terrible. They're not gonna do that because people naturally don't want to hurt your feelings." 

Brian: "People's opinions have a real effect on you. In that sense, they matter. But their opinions could be wrong. So what's more important, the truth or their opinions? I would say, what's the truth of this situation? And then hopefully align your opinions with the truth." 

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals Podcast, Kris Sykes and Brian Goldsack take us through an illuminating conversation about whether or not it is truly possible to achieve a state of perpetual happiness. For our hosts, to be in such a state does not mean being unaffected by things that cause us pain or sadness, but to have the ability to process those emotions in a healthy and balanced way. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• A perpetual state of happiness comes with experience
• Joyfulness is not necessarily equal to happiness
• A lesson in ice cream and seagulls
• Don't dwell on the things you can't change
• You have to forgive to achieve happiness
• You need to know hurt to appreciate what it means to be happy

QUOTES

Brian: "I think being a happy person means having a firm grip of reality and being able to process the things that are unfolding before you, I don't want to say in a right way, but in a balanced way."

Brian: "What if justice isn't served? Do you go on your whole life carrying grudges? Do you go on your whole life being bitter? Or do you have to perhaps sacrifice that in some way, maybe apologize? Or if it wasn't your fault, maybe forgive?" 

Kris: "You have to allow yourself to be angry, you have to allow yourself to be sad. But those are just pockets of emotion. Happiness is an overall state. So if you know yourself and understand that it's okay to react, it's okay to mess up, but I know how to get back to my base. And then at that point, you can reach that level of perpetual happiness." 

Follow Success Fundamentals on the following links below: 

• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Kris and Brian talk to award-winning wellness expert, performance coach, physiologist & dedicated runner Louise Valentine. Louise talks about overcoming physical ailments and overwhelming odds through both mindset shifts and physical health improvements. Louise specifically advises against keeping sedentary lifestyles and shares important tips to introduce constant movement in our daily lives. While not everyone needs to aspire to become an endurance athlete, simple strategies can add up to significant improvements to your overall health. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• How Louise  became endurance athlete against all odds 
• Get the ugly out, own your feelings, but put a deadline on it
• Mental pain can manifest in physical pain 
• The road to recovery starts with mind shifts  
• Your breakdown becomes your breakthrough
• Make it simple, realistic, enjoyable, and flexible
• Small lifestyle changes can add up to big quality of life improvements
• Our bodies are not well adapted for sedentary lifestyles 
• Thoughts on caffeine and its effects to the body 

QUOTES

Louise: "You use it or you lose it. It's so easy to get distracted in life. There's just so much noise, even in human performance. There's so many things to give you data on your body. If you just don't have that inner belief in yourself, that relentless confidence that you can master and own when you need it, you're not gonna go anywhere fast."

Louise: "It starts with shifting your mind. Because it's as you said, if your body remains in that fight or flight state, and you've got those stress chemicals and hormones, it is the absolute opposite of a badass state. We are going to be unproductive, our body is fighting against us. We can't lose weight if we want to, we can't gain muscle if we want to." 

Louise: "Our body has to move during the day, that's the bottom line. It doesn't have to be really complicated. It can be standing after you eat at a desk if you don't have time to go for a walk. Get up and do a couple burpees in between when you're working on a big project that you have to sit there." 

Get in touch with Louise and her work in the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-valentine-mph/
• Website: https://www.breakingthroughwellness.com/
• Website: https://www.teamvalentineproject.com/

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In this episode of the Success Fundamentals podcast, Oleg Lougheed joins Brian and Kris in an honest and unfiltered conversation about race, and whether or not it affects your opportunities for success. Oleg, who hosts the Overcoming Odds podcast shares his perspective on the topic as someone who has lived in the United States and now working in Ghana, South Africa. Together, the trio reflect on the topics of racism, equality, opportunity, and different strategies on fighting racial discrimination.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Racism can look different in other parts of the world
• The media plays a big role in instituting stereotypes 
• Racism today often comes in hushed tones behind closed doors
• Very few people want to be made accountable for their ignorance
• Will the playing field ever be equal for people of color?
• How and when do we learn racist concepts?
• Collaboration is better than throwing spears

QUOTES

Kris: "If you see an image enough, you subconsciously start to believe it. It becomes your truth. And sometimes, you're acting in ways that you don't even think is offensive but because you've seen it so much, like if somebody walks down the street and clutches a purse because I'm walking down the street. They may not realize they're doing that, but that's the image. Who owns the images? It's these media companies owned by white men."

Oleg: "In my opinion, very few people are actually willing to take responsibility for the fact that, hey, I might have been ignorant once upon a time. I might have been racist. I might have said certain things to people that offended them. People don't want to be wrong." 

Brian: "Race is pointless. It's like saying, you know, judging somebody by looking at how big their index finger is. It's like saying, I don't know if you'd be a good accountant. I mean, after all, look at his index finger, it's like, what does that have to literally do with anything?"

Kris: "If we're trying to get to a point where everybody is equal, whatever that thought is, Collaboration would be better  as opposed to throwing spears, is what I'm saying. You can get a lot more done addressing the issue, talking through the issue and moving forward, as opposed to being belligerent about it."

Learn more about Oleg and his work in the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oleg-lougheed-6aa2a1b5/
• Podcast: https://www.overcomingodds.today/podcast-1
• Website: https://www.overcomingodds.today/

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In this episode of the Success Fundamentals, Brian talks to trained psychologist and host of the Psychology at Work podcast, Dr. Casey Lankow.  Casey gives us a psychologist’s perspective on what drives adaptability. For Casey, it all boils down to how we look at ourselves, and whether or not we know and accept its effects on our self-image that dictates how we respond to change. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Nobody likes change
• Why do we love routines?
• Humans are social animals with social needs
• Success is defined by having a sense of self-acceptance
• Adaptability is a muscle that can be built over time
• Our personalities are defense mechanisms
• It always comes back to our identity

QUOTES

Casey: "I think it's important to just always return to that central idea, which is our brain's first reaction to any change is always going to be: this is a disruption. Because our brains are sort of wired to be as efficient as they can be. So brains, they like routine. They like not having to expend extra energy on thinking through, well, how do I do this?"

Casey: "The degree to which I know and accept myself, determines the degree to which I know and accept others. In my context, success for a human would be getting to a point where there's more and more regularity to having moments of knowing that I am good enough." 

Casey: "It's not the new way of doing something that makes adapting difficult. It's the split second disruptive reaction and the question that's going on in my head: what does this mean about who I am now? It always comes down to our identity." 

Casey: "Our personalities as individuals is nothing more than a defense and a survival mechanism for the environment that we came to be in. If we didn't have to protect ourselves in certain ways, we would all be down in the middle. But these strong characteristics that develop are reactions and responses to the environment that we found ourselves in." 

Learn more about Casey and his work in the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseylankow/
• Website: https://adeeperway.com/
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/psychology-at-work/id1466167436

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• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

HIGHLIGHTS

• Finishing the last 20% is harder than getting to the first 80% 
• You require obsession to achieve elite status 
• Your path to success will differ based on your goals 
• Aim for a healthy body, mind, and spirit
• Think of the journey, not just the end goal
• Strength comes from stress 
• It's all about training 
• Celebrate all your victories

QUOTES

Robert: It's difficult at first. I think sometimes, you need to go off track to get back on track, if that makes sense." 

Robert: "You just gotta appreciate the positive more than the negatives of whatever you're trying to be elite at. If you're trying to be an elite football player, if you love football that much, I don't think you're gonna care about the things you got to give up." 

Kris: "The illusion of being elite, the illusion of being great is, when you think of that, you think of the end goal. People tend to emulate the end result, not the journey." 

Robert: "It's all training. You're training your mind, you're training your spirit, you're training your body. I started to think about coordination, like people sometimes come in and say oh I'm not very coordinated. And it's like, you never put in the time to build that coordination. You never made the connections in your brain to help your body do what you want it to do. Whenever you're learning a new skill, you're just making new connections in your brain." 

Robert: “Somebody comes in, they don't have to be older, then can be younger and in pain they're not able to do stuff they used to be able to do and then they break through that barrier. And now they can do something simple like walk around the grocery store and not be out of breath or something like that. Those are really huge wins, those are life-changing wins."

Learn more about Robert in the links below: 

• Website: https://believeadultfitness.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbadstein/

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In this episode of the Success Fundamentals, Kris and Brian talk to author, life coach, and educator Melissa Oatman. Melissa is also the host of the Awakening your Inner Awesomeness podcast. 

Melissa talks about self-development and working to become the best version of yourself. We all grow up with certain values that unknowingly have been setting us back from achieving success, but we can always unlearn them. When we are aware of the things that we must change, we unlock our inner awesomeness, and get that one step closer to achieving what we set out to do. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Awakening your inner awesomeness, defined
• Sit down and ask yourself if you're really happy
• Start putting yourself and your happiness first
• What if we all just pursued our interests? 
• The importance of spirituality in achieving success
• Is it possible to be in a state of perpetual positive emotion?
• Negative self-talk can manifest into physical illness 
• You can't control life, only your reaction toward it

QUOTES

Melissa: "Awakening the awesomeness is doing the self-work and doing the self-development on yourself each and everyday to bring out the best version of yourself."

Melissa: "You have to learn to trust your own instincts and come to a place where your happiness is valued over everyone else's, that what you want is more important. And that is difficult especially for people who are people pleasers." 

Melissa: "What we have to do sometimes is unlearn the conditions that have been placed on us like when they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, that money doesn't grow on trees, or you're not capable of making a lot of money. You have to let go of those beliefs and they're sometimes very deeply rooted." 

Melissa: "You have to change that inner record that's always playing and for many of us, it's what people have said to us our whole lives or what we perceive that they think about us. So we have to change that so we can start to feel better about ourselves."

Learn more about Melissa in the links below: 

• Website: https://www.melissaoatman.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-oatman-0a51a432/
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Beautifully-Broken-Spiritual-Thriving-Surviving/dp/198957906X
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/awaken-your-inner-awesomeness-with-melissa-oatman/id1409822126

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In this episode of the Success Fundamentals, Kris and Brian talk to Scott Snider, President of the Exit Planning Institute (EPI) and Operating Partner of Snider Premier Growth, a small family investment company. Scott takes us through his own success journey and how he views value both in his personal and professional life. For Scott, your value is all about how much you contribute, not about how much you think you’re owed. He also shares the lessons he and his team at EPI learned when they decided to pivot their business model at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• What makes life and business valuable?
• Don't let your business define you
• Pivot to online classes and the lessons learned when COVID-19 hit
• Mistakes that people make when valuing themselves and their business
• Create a case study of your achievements to prove your value
• Things you can do to be more valuable 
• Have a good attitude and just try 
• Listen to both sides and make an informed decision
• Always be open to learning 

QUOTES

Scott: "Purposeful growth. I believe we should always be learning and growing and challenging ourselves to do not just things that we like to learn, but things that are wildly uncomfortable." 

Scott: "Management isn't right for everybody, but growth is."

Kris: "A lot of people when they start out, they think that you got to be doing what you want to do today. And that's not necessarily the case. You have to progress. For example, if you're working at Scott's company, you want to become a director, you don't start out as a director. You start out at maybe the bottom." 

Scott: "If you really want to get something that you really want, just be nice to the person. Because you don't know what's going on in their life behind the scenes. I think most people are good, I think a lot of people are just a little lost, and I think the world will be a hell of a lot better place if we just treat each other with a little bit more respect."

Learn more about Chris in the links below: 

• Website: http://earncepa.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-snider-epi/

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• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals, Kris and Brian talk to emmy-nominated host and star of PA Live! Chris Bohinski. Chris talks about the many pivots that he’s had to make to accommodate life-changing events, and why he’d make those choices all over again, if need be. From training to be a medical director to working in the entertainment industry, Chris talks about his journey so far, and the importance of trusting that no matter where you are now, you’re exactly where you’re meant to be. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Change is often borne out of necessity 
• Chris's hidden talent and breaking into NBC's Today Show
• A second tragedy, moving back home, and getting another break 
• The goal has always been to perform
• Don't worry about the outcome and just always do your best
• Don't be afraid to ask questions
• What you thought life was going to be vs What it's supposed to be 
• It's all about the journey, not the destination 

QUOTES

Chris: "My pivots have been out of necessity, have not been out of something not working. Just how life was unfolding in front of me, and I look forward to what journey and what path and what serendipitous life moments that my world is going to bring to me. I'm just here with open arms to enjoy and experience it all."

Chris: "I always do my best. I try my best. I'm never worried about the outcome of something. If it doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be. But I know I literally did as good as I can." 

Chris: "Make sure you always remember, if you want to make that step into anything, it's okay to ask questions. I believe most of my life, and what some may deem as successes in it, are because I am not afraid to ask questions. 

Chris: "Sometimes life makes the decisions for you. You have to trust in those moments that everything's gonna work out in the end."

Learn more about Chris in the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbohinski/
• Website: https://www.pahomepage.com/pa-live/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisbohinski/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisBohinski/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisbohinski

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• Website: https://www.successfundamentals.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4XCvuwxnFi5_7C6Ncm12xQ
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-fundamentals™
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successfundamentalspodcast
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/successfundamentalspodcast

In this episode of the Success Fundamentals, Kris, Brian, and guest Seth J. Gillihan, PhD talk about self sabotage and the ways that it can be overcome. Seth, a licensed psychologist with training in cognitive behavioral therapy, talks about being mindful of these self sabotaging behaviors, setting better goals, and training yourself to be comfortable with change. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tell-tale signs of self sabotage 
• Fixed vs growth mindset
• Self sabotaging behavior is often unconscious 
• Ways to overcome self sabotage
• Tie yourself to a purpose, not a fixed goal
• Mentally healthy people are able to adjust to change 
• A case study on affirmations 
• On CBT, Mindfulness, and Stoicism

QUOTES

Seth: "If our happiness is based on pursuit, that dopamine drive of more, more, more, then we might know unconsciously that if I ever get there, then it's over. Because then, you know, I've got the mansion, I've got the whatever and I still feel empty inside. And that can be a reason to not reach it, like just got to keep climbing."

Seth: "I used to think of CBT and mindfulness as just that, CBT plus mindfulness. But now, I've really thought of it as mindful awareness, mindful presence, is the context in which we work on our thoughts and our actions."

Seth: "Reality is just reality, but so often we are fighting against it. We're saying things shouldn't be this way, I don't like this, and pushing things away instead of jus saying like, this is the way things are, let me receive that as a starting point and then I can respond adaptively to it."

Seth: That helps so much with that idea of reacting flexibly to demands because I'm not locked in to one way of doing things. I'm not overly attached to a certain outcome. I'm willing to work with things as they are and to change things. Receiving and accepting doesn't mean that I leave them the way they are. It means that I'm starting from a really healthy understanding that this is reality and let's work from there." 

Learn more about Seth in the links below: 

• Website: https://sethgillihan.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgillihanphd/
• Podcast: https://sethgillihan.com/podcasts/ 
• Online courses: https://sethgillihan.com/online-courses/
• App: https://www.enjoybloom.com/

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